Chapter 16
Izzy
I stare at the sign hanging on the door to the pool with dismay. “You have to be kidding me.”
After what went down in the pool shower, we couldn’t resist going back, and over the past few weeks, Nik and I have combined
actual swimming workouts with another kind of cardio. No one suspects anything, and I’ll never object to starting the day
with an orgasm in the showers and an off-campus breakfast run. We’re just enjoying each other’s company for mutual stress
relief, after all.
Today, though? The pool’s closed for maintenance.
Nik squints at the sign. He still looks sleepy, which would be adorable if not for the fact I can’t shove him into the pool
to wake him up. I’ve been careful not to spend the night at his dorm, so I rarely get to see him like this.
“Huh. That’s a bummer.”
I unwind my hair from its bun and shake it out. “A bummer? You mean a catastrophe.”
He stifles a yawn. “We have another option.”
“Going back to bed?” I say hopefully.
“No.” He smirks. “Going for a run.”
I groan, flopping my head back. “No. No way.”
“What? It’s cardio.”
“It’s horrible cardio, unlike swimming, which is wonderful.”
“They’re not really that different.”
“The fact you don’t think they’re different makes you the weird one.”
“There’s a trail the next town over that I’ve been meaning to check out.” He winds his arm around me. “I’ll run at your pace, sunshine. It’ll be fun.”
I narrow my eyes. The words fun and run should not go together, even if they rhyme. There’s a reason why I never went running with Nik in Central Park, despite repeated
invitations and attempts at bribery. Of course I can run; I’ve gone on runs with my family for years, but it’s so boring . And yet... if the choice this morning is between spending time with him on some stupid trail or not having it at all,
I know my answer. I didn’t wake up early and sneak out of the house for nothing.
“Fine. But you’re buying me pancakes after.”
His fingers dig into my hip. “Sure.”
“Chocolate chip pancakes. Like, the huge ones that take up the whole plate.”
“Got it.”
“And a pumpkin spice latte.” I smile at him sweetly. “Even if you think it’s an affront to coffee.”
“Any other demands?” he says, mouth twitching.
I pretend to think, tilting my head to the side. “Well, if you wouldn’t mind throwing in a few orgasms...”
I trail off as he makes a low noise, looking every bit the wolf to my rabbit. “Run, Isabelle.”
Spoiler alert: it’s not fun. We’ve been running for fifteen minutes, and I’m already sweaty, aching, and vaguely itchy. But
Nik is clearly having a great time, and I know he’s slowing his pace for me, so I just smile and focus on sticking to the
path. I’ll bet that when he goes on runs by himself, he tracks his blood oxygen levels and eats that gross gel stuff for the
electrolytes.
October’s in full swing now, so the forest around us looks like a box of jewels, each glowing shade more beautiful than the last. At least I’m warm enough that the chilly morning air feels pleasant. It’s not the pool, but it’s something.
I give him an appreciative look. He’s ridiculously easy on the eyes when he’s like this. I never thought the leggings-plus-athletic-shorts
look was an especially hot one, but clearly, I wasn’t checking out the right guys. Combined with the way his hair flops invitingly
over his forehead and his fitted black T-shirt, I need to be careful I don’t run right into a ditch.
“Chuck and Blair are getting together, right?”
I arch an eyebrow as I dodge a tree root. “You’ll have to watch and see.”
“So that’s a yes.”
“I didn’t say anything!”
“When I asked about Dan and Serena, you gave me a straight answer.”
“So?”
“So, I know Blair’s your favorite, which means you want to keep what happens to her a secret, to watch my reactions.” He laughs
at the expression on my face. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
“To be fair, basically everyone dates on that show at some point. It’s the most incestuous friend group ever.” I dance around
a puddle, grimacing when the toe of my shoe gets wet. “And yes, I will judge if you don’t have the right reactions to Queen
B.”
“I can’t get over how I’m supposed to believe they’re in high school.”
“I went to a Long Island version of Constance, but the biggest scandal we dealt with was the art teacher trying to pass off
a student’s work as her own.” I poke him in the side. “What about you?”
“You should talk to Cricket, not me. She went to Dalton.”
“Isn’t Dalton coed? You didn’t go there, too?”
“I mostly had tutors, to keep up with hockey training.” He snorts, shaking his head. “She threw some really wild parties, though. Flew half her class year to Ibiza for her eighteenth birthday.”
“Holy crap, your cousin is a badass.” I wanted to meet Cricket over the summer, but our schedules never aligned. It was for
the best, anyway; only a girlfriend would meet family like that. From the way Nik talks about her, she’s the closest thing
he has to a sister.
He nudges me playfully. “What about you? You’ve probably had some fun birthdays.”
“Um, yeah. My family has this tradition—each birthday is like, Izzy Day, or Cooper Day. We do something fun and exclusive
together.”
“That’s sweet. What was your best one?”
My heart seizes. “Um...”
He frowns at the look on my face. “Sore subject?”
“No, I’ve had some good ones. Just not recently.” I should move on, talk about something else, but for whatever reason, I
keep going. “It’s just, my ex-boyfriend stood me up on my seventeenth birthday. And I didn’t really celebrate last year, either.”
I look at the ground, so I don’t see the pity in Nik’s eyes. That birthday was supposed to be the first Izzy Day I spent with
a partner, not just my family. They still made it as special as they could, but it wasn’t what I wanted. Especially not when
I was reeling from Chance’s betrayal.
“Oh,” he says. “Shit, Isabelle. I’m sor—”
“It’s not a big deal,” I interrupt. I pause, leaning against a tree to catch my breath. “It happened ages ago.”
I put enough firmness into my voice that he doesn’t press, although he gives me a lingering look. I just lift my chin. He pushes me against the tree as he kisses me. The bark scrapes my shoulder blades. He breaks away, but doesn’t stop touching me, hands run ning down to press into my hips and inch up the fabric of my shirt.
His brown eyes have flecks of gold in them. Somehow, I never noticed until just now. I push back his hair, studying him.
He kisses me again. It’s the kind of kiss that holds the promise of more . His mouth in more sensitive places. His fingers tracing more than just my midriff. He pushes his leg between mine, and I
gasp, biting his lip. My hands twist in the back of his shirt.
“We’re finishing the run,” he murmurs. “Even if I want nothing more than to see you on your knees.”
I’m dizzy, suddenly. It must be the lack of caffeine. My brain is dying for pumpkin spice. “You did promise me orgasms if I ran with you.”
He nips my bottom lip. “But not when, sunshine. Keep up.”
He takes off, running down the trail at full speed. I stare at him in outrage for a moment—he’s always a tease, but that’s
just evil —before sprinting after him. The trail curves, half-overgrown with bushes, but I run right through them, ignoring my stinging
legs. His laughter echoes in the forest, spurring me even faster. I finally catch up to him, and whether he’s slowing his
pace or not, I don’t care; I tackle him into a pile of leaves.
“Oof,” he says, muffled underneath me. “See? You can run.”
“Bastard,” I pant. “Of course I can run, I have three older brothers to keep up with.”
He yanks me down by the ponytail. I laugh and kiss him again and again.